At a press conference in 2010 Steve Jobs said that a 3.5-inch screen was a perfect size for consumers and no one was going to buy a big phone, referring to, at the time, new models from Samsung and Motorola that featured larger screens. While Apple has stuck with the mantra of its co-founder and limited the screen size of its latest flagship device, the iPhone 5s, to a very moderate 4 inches, outside the iOS universe smartphone displays have grown larger and larger.

Virtually all current Android flagship smartphones come with at least 5-inch screen diameters, the LG G2 and the brand new Sony Xperia Z2 even feature 5.2-inch variants. Those who want it even bigger can choose from a variety of phablets, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note III, HTC One Max or the Windows Phone powered Nokia Lumia 1520, which offer displays that range from 5.5 to 6 inches in size.

Thanks to advanced display technologies and ever thinner bezels the overall dimensions of the devices have proportionally grown less than the screens but nevertheless large pockets are required for carrying the latest generation of Android and Windows Phone flagship devices. That said, despite the trend toward almost tablet-sized smartphones there is still a large demand for smaller smartphones from users who are contemplating a switch from iOS and its smaller phones to another mobile OS.

Size comparison: our test devices next to the 5.2-inch LG G2

Most manufacturers have realized that, too, and have designed smaller versions of their flagship smartphones to cater to those user who prefer more pocketable devices. In this shootout we pit three of those models against each other: the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, HTC One Mini and Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. LG also just announced the G2 Mini but the device is not available yet at this point. We will have a closer look at it once we get our hands on a sample unit.

The manufacturers of the three devices in this shootout have approached the compact smartphone topic in different ways. While Sony's Xperia Z1 Compact is pretty much an Xperia Z1 in a smaller body, including the 20.7MP camera module, HTC and Samsung have not only shrunk the dimensions of the One Mini and Galaxy S4 Mini but also downgraded some of the components.

Both come with slower CPUs than their bigger counterparts and the camera modules are less advanced as well. The Galaxy S4 Mini has swapped the 13MP sensor of its larger sibling for an 8MP chip and the HTC One Mini loses the One's optical image stabilization system. The table below provides a more detailed overview of the specifications of our test models:

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact

HTC One Mini

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini

Image Sensor

1/2.3-inch CMOS, 20.7MP

1/3-inch CMOS, 4MP

1/3-inch CMOS, 8MP

Aperture

F2.0

F2.0

F2.6

OIS

No

No

No

Camera Aspect Ratio

4:3 (16:9 in 8MP mode)

16:9

4:3

Focal Length*

31mm

28mm

31mm

Video

1080p, 30fps

1080p, 30fps

1080p, 30fps

Screen

4.3-inch, 720p

4.3-inch, 720p

4.3-inch, 960x540

CPU

Snapdragon 800

Snapdragon 400

Snapdragon 400

Dimensions

127 x 64.9 x 9.5 mm 5.0 x 2.56 x 0.37 in

132 x 63.2 x 9.3 mm5.20 x 2.49 x 0.37 in

124.6 x 61.3 x 8.9 mm4.91 x 2.41 x 0.35 in

Weight

137 g / 4.83 oz

122 g / 4.30 oz

107 g / 3.77 oz

Current Sim Free Street Price

USD 525GBP 385EUR 465

USD 410GBP 220EUR 340

USD 320GBP 220EUR 235

*35mm format equivalent

For the purpose of this shootout we have taken sample images in a variety of light situations and compared the results. All shots were taken handheld from the same position. We took between five and 10 pictures of each scene with each device and picked the best one for the comparison.

In its default Auto mode the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact captures downsampled 8MP images but you can access the full 20.7MP files by switching into the camera's Manual mode. We have included both image versions in our shootout to show you what the Sony's camera is capable of in both modes. Click through to the next page to see how the candidates performed in our test scenarios.

My Sony is a nice smart phone and takes great pictures but the sensor has a dirt issue. Sonys only suggestion was to send it to a service centre ...since it isn't in a city centre and no interim was offered I remain unimpressed ~ especially so for a company that makes and wants us to buy non phone cameras!

My 3G HTC was almost as good and no dirt on the sensor. I only changed to a new phone for 4g and the camera....why have a water resistant phone when the sensor is not internal dirt resistant Sony?

Appalling after sales service attitude...would make me consider an IPhone...or other....it's a pity Panasonic don't do phones I love their Lumix cameras and lenses....

Thanks for a most informative review Lars. It confirmed my decision that the Samsung S4 Mini is the best phone for my needs, producing sharp, contrasty images, indoors (with flash) and out, that are perfect for sharing with friends on social media and for displaying on computer screens. The Sony's camera may be superior in rendering high ISO fine details (for a cellphone, that is), but its superiority mainly shows when printing large prints, which is something I never do with cellphone pics. In fact, I find the one area that the Samsung won, i.e. flash pics, more useful since it impacts the picture quality regardless of size or usage. This is especially important since most of cellphone pics (in my case anyway) are taken indoors.

It would've been great if you included a quick video quality comparison since most cellphone users probably take as many videos as pics, but thanks all the same!

I assume you mean the Samsung Galaxy S5? This is a test of "compact sized" smartphones that are smaller than your typical flagship smartphone, for example the Galaxy S5. But do not fret, we will review the S5, too, as soon as we get a review model.

Hmmm, now that's tempting... I didn't know there was a compact version of any flagship phone. I handled a friend's Z1 and found it ridiculously big for my taste. Now I may upgrade from my Xperia Acro S to a water resistant Z1 without sacrificing the size of the Acro S (which I find borderline acceptable size wise).

Interesting, Lars. Thank you. I have a nice Samsung phone - very happy with it, all uses considered. But the phone cam is no comparison to my Samsung NX300 camera which is a pleasure to use, produces great IQ and exposure latitude, communicates/transfers files seamlessly with phone. A great combo. but I can envision certain conceptual projects actualized quite competently with the phone cam alone - IQ seems reasonably close enough to its competitors.

Not exactly the entirety of what I was intendind to express. As a professor, I have been engaged with many students wanting to do very conceptual projects which phone cams might be best for. But I think the IQ limitations have been very obvious until relatively recently.

Yes, the image camera to phone transfer technology has improved a lot. I have a Sony RX100II and it works great on that model but I have used the Samsung system, too and found it very good. But still, I've only got my phone in the pocket but not the RX100, even though it's a small camera ;)

I am pretty sure there are more Android users interested in smaller phones than just "users who are contemplating a switch from iOS and its smaller phones to another mobile OS". Reads like a Samsung's The-Next-Big-Thing ad.

Z1 Compact is the only compact phone a la iPhone 5. The other two are midrange phones.

Well, some important things that the comparison table does not report are the amount of RAM (2GB for the Z1 vs. 1,5GB for the s4 mini and 1GB for the one mini) and the fact that the chipset, besides being a Snapdragon 800 vs 400 (that is, a chipset designed for a flagship vs. a chipset designed for entry-level phones), also has a higher clock speed. What's more, even the GPU is better on the Z1c.The Z1c is really in a different league... it's the only one that is a true flagship in a compact body. The other two are just overpriced mid-range phones.

"The manufacturers of the three devices in this shootout have approached the compact smartphone topic in different ways. While Sony's Xperia Z1 Compact is pretty much an Xperia Z1 in a smaller body, including the 20.7MP camera module, HTC and Samsung have not only shrunk the dimensions of the One Mini and Galaxy S4 Mini but also downgraded some of the components. "

Sony colours have issue problem most of it across. It seems a little too pink for my liking. Except only one Sony indoor pic is the winner. Most of winner points to Samsung for me but in low light Samsung wasn't so good due to white light was blown out.

In the meantime have you got an individual test of the Galaxy S5 coming soon? It would be great to put that up against the DxOMark Sony Xperia Z2 report from last week so we can at least draw our own conclusions between those two for now.

all the newly released models are in the pipeline but test samples need to be received and reviews need to be written ;) We are hoping to produce an S5 DxO report in the next few weeks, the full review will be soon after then.

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